I picked up a 2nd OM617A a couple months ago. Had thoughts of putting the best bits of both together to make one good one, and do a lot of head work for a superturbo project.
Anyway, had the thought that since these are so hard to come by, maybe I should rebuild one and sell it off? Rebuilding these isn't cheap so maybe selling one would pay for the rebuild of the other for myself. Maybe if I included my 5 speed 711.113 gearbox....hmmm.
Would there be anyone even interested?

An old mate has several 617's gathering dust in his shed. Some are actually new. They sit there because no one wants to pay the prices asked, and those prices are the same he was asking in 1998 . They are simple engine to rebuild so a lot of worn ones are simply rebuilt rather than swapped out.